Yodoya Bridge

Yodoyabashi crosses the Tosabori River, and well known modern buildings are dotted around it, among them the Osaka branch of the Bank of Japan, the prefectural Nakanoshima Library and the Central Public Hall. The first bridge was built in the Edo period by the Yodoya, then the foremost timber merchants in Japan, and was about 65 m long and about 4 m wide. The bridge is named after them. The Yodoya family is said to have contributed a great deal to the formation of the Dojima rice market, the Tenma vegetable market and the Zakoba fish market, but in Hoei 2 (1705) they were suddenly subjected to kessho, the confiscation of their property, and the house came to an end. The bridge of that time was washed away in the great flood of Meiji 18 (1885). The present bridge was completed in Showa 10 (1935), after a prize competition for the design was held as part of the First Urban Planning Project that began in Taisho 11 (1922). For its very fine design and its harmony with the surroundings, it was named the bridge that citizens find most attractive in a survey on bridges carried out by the city of Osaka.

Translated and shortened from the Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City tourist listings (観光施設一覧, CC BY 4.0).